eChapters

Introduction

Biotechnology is defined as the ‘application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of material by biological agents to provide goods and services’. The term ‘biotechnology’ is also used when a technique involving live organisms are employed to make or modify a product, improve plants or animals or develop microorganisms for specific uses. According to the definition of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC 2001), modern biotechnology is defined as the application of (i) in vitro nucleic acid techniques, including recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and direct injection of nucleic acid into cells or organelles, or (ii) fusion of cells beyond the taxonomic family, that overcome natural physiological reproductive or recombination barriers, and that are not techniques used in traditional breeding and selection. Scientific developments of present world owe to processes and products of the field of biotechnology. Modern biotechnological advancements have played a major role in important branches of science such as agriculture, food processing, medicine and veterinary applications. Biotechnological interventions of the downstream processing applications include primary production areas namely breeding of crops and livestock, production of additives for food and feed and pharmaceuticals along with diagnostic tools. Inputs for food processing applications from biotechnology include biocatalysts such as enzymes, tracing food ingredients such as Genetically modified (GM) ingredients in end products of food and feed and food quality testing applications for food borne pathogens. Applications of modern biotechnology in form of genetically modified organisms have gained much importance in comparison to the downstream applications during food processing and food safety (Zhu, 2017). Food processing operations include transformation of harvested crop or animal produce into produce which are marketable with long shelf life and minimises waste and losses of raw produce in food chain and ensure their continuous availability in super market shelves. Food safety is an important area which assures of the food being safe for consumption. Food technological applications of modern biotechnology includes food enzymes that are important in various food processing applications in reactions involving lipids, carbohydrates and proteins, food fermentations to improve properties such as taste, flavour, texture, nutritional and shelf stability, food additives in form of bio preservatives, flavours, fragrances, genetically modified starter cultures, genetically modified crops, modern rapid diagnostic kits for food safety are discussed in detail.

Weaning foods

Introduction

Breast milk is natural and best for the growth and development of newborn babies. Although breast milk is adequate to provide an optimum nutrient till the age of six months but after that it is not sufficient to sustain optimum growth and fulfill their nutritional requirements. Various nutrients are required to supplement milk until child is ready to eat adult meal. This additional food along with the breast milk is referred as “complementary Food”. With adequate amount of complementary feeding breast-feeding continues up to two years of age and beyond so, referred as complementary feeding period.

Appropriate and adequate amount of complementary feeding helps in preventing malnutrition stunting and promoting growth. Introduction of this complementary food is called as weaning.

Weaning is the process of introducing adult food and beverage to the infant to support their growth and development. This is very crucial period in infant’s life. This is a period for diet transition as the nutrition requirements for growth and brain development is quite high. Introduction of various taste and texture promotes biting and chewing skills (Guthrie, 1975). Most six-month age children start eating semisolid foods. Weaning homogenized infant foods play a major role in the nutrition of infants (Martinez, 2004).As infants grow, their nutritional requirements also increase. To keep up this growing demand WHO recommends that infants start eating solid, semi-solid or soft foods at the age of 6 months to ensure sufficient nutrient intake.

Introduction

Oils and fats are utilized both for their food applications as well as for industrial purpose. As a food product, oils and fats are consumed in a variety of forms such as shortening, ghee, butter, margarine, cooking oil, salad oil, etc. Other uses include their usage in the form of lubricants, greases, soaps, cosmetics, paints as well as animal feed and biofuels. Among the Asian countries, Indonesia leads as the prime producer with more than fifty percent of the total palm oil production in the world. As a second-best producer of oils and fats, China was the major manufacturer of rapeseed as well as soybean oil in year of 2018. In general, Asian countries contributed to more than fifty percent of the total fat and oil manufacturing in the world in 2018 (Kushairi et al., 2018). Even though fats and oils are primarily utilized for food applications, there has been an increased interest in their industrial utility for the manufacture of biofuels. Fats manufactured from various animal sources like tallow or lard also contribute to a considerable quantity and compete with vegetable oils for the production of biofuels.

The resources for producing oils and fats are diverse depending on their end use, yet they are obtained from two major sources: animal sources and plant sources. Oils and fats are used as starting materials for the preparation of shortenings, margarines, and other tailored products that further act as functional ingredients in food products prepared by food processors, restaurants, and in home. They have been used for food and other variety of applications since the prehistoric times, due to their easy availability. For example, fatty tissues from animals liberate free-floating fats on being boiled, whereas oil can be pressed out from oil fruits and oilseeds.

The role of dietary oils and fats in human nutrition is also one of the important areas of interest. Over the time, oil and fat industry has provided significant contributions toward nutritional improvement of various products. With the growing concern linked between cardiovascular diseases and consumption of oil and fat products, low-calorie variants of different foods, free or low in cholesterol are also available now. Excessive fat consumption among the populations of developed countries and consequences of obesity has led to the development of reduced-fat and very-low-fat variants of foods.

Introduction

Military personnel’s are deployed for operation in adverse climatic conditions like desert, cold (arctic) and high altitude regions. Stressful and challenging living conditions have affected the outcome of many battles, campaigns and wars. Acclimatization to the environmental condition is a very essential stage of deployment. The time for acclimatization is restricted/limited for the effective operation towards the purpose of deployment. The performance of the military personnel in various deployed regions depends on the nutrition provided by the food consumed. The operational rations are designed to provide the essential nutrition to enhance their performance during training and/or operational situations.

Nutrition requirement of military personnel is different from that of the civilians. The nutrition requirement also varies with the kind (sedentary or continuous work) and region (plain, desert or high altitude) of deployment. The environmental stress caused by extreme heat, cold, etc. also influences the nutrient requirement/ intake. The insufficient dietary nutrient intake affects the immune function, pace of recovery from illness and injury and also the physical performance (Tharion et al., 2005).

The operational ration is also designed in such a way that it provides to the military personnel the required nutrition from the build in nutrition reserves during certain operational situations. Considering the vital criteria for nutritional requirement, the menu for the military personnel is designed. The chapter discusses the past, present and future of the army operational ration (AOR) in various countries of the world and the influence of advances in food processing methods in AOR menu.

Drying of the Spices

Drying is an important mode of preservation and it ensures microbial safety of the spices.The main purpose of drying is to increase the shelf storage and make the seasonal spices available round the year with minute losses of nutrients, flavor, taste and color (Maroulis, 2003). During drying, there is a continuous transfer of heat and mass due to the heat application which eventually leads to moisture removal from the product (Akpinar, 2006) (Hashim, 2014). Since, the sensory, nutritional and functional attributes of spices are partially or totally affected by the drying process, the adequate choice of drying technique becomes requisite. There exists a number of conventional drying methods including solar drying (El-sebaii, 2012), freeze drying (Ciurzy nska 2011), vacuum drying (Nadi, 2012), osmotic dehydration,hot air drying and fluidized bed drying (Onwude, 2016). However, these drying techniques lead to poor quality of the spices because of the longer duration of treatment and high amount of energy. To combat with the issues of poor quality, there has been a significant development of the novel techniques, which includes- microwave, ohmic, infrared, pulse electric field, radio- frequency, ultraviolet, ultrasound, supercritical and heat pump heating, in the drying of the agricultural crops. These novel techniques are found to produce higher quality products as compared to the conventional drying techniques (Moses J. N., 2014). The microwave and radio frequency heating technologies are developed in such a manner that they are capable of partial or complete removal of the conventional methods of heating/ drying (Onwude, 2016). The use of these novel techniques has gained a keen attention for the drying purpose of spices. Some of the researchers have also proved that combination of conventional and novel drying techniques leads to better product output.

Introduction

For human beings, the three most important necessities for their survival are food, clothing and shelter. among all of these food is the top most priority. Food safety and Standards defines food into 8 categories (Nutraceutical, Heath Supplements/Dietary Supplements, Food for special medical Purpose, food for Special Dietary Use, Novel Food, and Functional food) in regulation, 2016. A growing trend of health products, concept of food as medicine, associated public interest and consumers demand leads to a progressive research interest in functional foods and nutraceuticals development. Abnormal lifestyle, food habits (consumption of junk food) and low physical activity creates an exponential growth in a number of chronic diseases; obesity, cardio-vascular syndromes, osteoporosis, arthritis and cancer (Das et al., 2012) among the developing and developed countries. While nutraceuticals and functional foods are becoming an alternative affordable system to reduce the risk of disease through prevention in spite of high tech therapies and costly medicines.

The current survey showed that worldwide revenue of functional foods is projected to increase from about 300 billion U.S. dollars in 2017 to over 440 billion dollars in 2022. Also according to the International Food Information Council (IFIC), health benefits achieved from functional food components may provide benefits far beyond than basic nutrition. Products like dietary supplements containing vitamins, functional foods such as sports drinks or products fortified with probiotic play a major role in the market rise (www.statista.com).Indian and Chinese traditional foods, recipes, spices and diversified ingredient market is well known around the world from centuries. Hence, a double-digit growth rate is also experienced in Asian nutraceutical and functional food market. Another reason for the growing trend in consuming functional foods is education and proper health awareness. Furthermore, people are more concern about the optimization of health-promoting capabilities in their diet using dietary supplement and fortified foods. While, food product based industries are marketing health supplements using scientific facts and the relationship between diet and health. Government, non-government organizations (NGOs) and web-based online information also play a key role in promoting and trending food based health products.

Nano-technology refers to technology on a nano- meter scale, specifically less than 100 nano-meters. The novel nano-particles are tiny spheres (fullerenes) or tubes (nanotubes) made from carbon atoms. It facilitates the development of future inventions transversely a vast array of fields. New nano-particles are being made of silicon, ceramic, polymers or even natural ingredients that break down in the body. The characteristics that make these particles functional in the food industry include optical properties, reactivity to temperature, and biodegradability. They can be used as probes or filled with flavorings or nutrients for delivery. Highlights on the categorisation of agriculture with nano- food technology and nutrition are given in Fig 1.

There are three key elements in nano-technology. They are: (1) substances at nano-scale exhibit novel physical and chemical phenomena with novel functions (2) allowing to measure, control and operate material at the nano-scale that transform them to functions. (3) allowing the union of nano scales of materials for exceptional properties.

Introduction

Advances in food preservation methods have supported the journey of food science from that of a cookery science to a fast growing industrial technology. Food preservation knowledge deals with the way to prevent spoilage and maintenance of quality in foods. Spoilage is the deterioration in quality brought about by inherent biochemical and chemical changes, as well as microbial metabolism during food storage. Basic principles of food preservation (Frazier et al., 2008) remains the same, but newer methods for achieving the goal is added through research fuelled by a consumer demand for fresh-like foods with convenience and safety. Scientific information on novel processing methods are beautifully compiled (Cullen et al., 2011; Da-Wen Sun, 2014; Tokuþoðlu and Swanson 2015; Doona, 2018).

In-depth knowledge of physiological activities of micro-organisms in presence of preservation agents is essential for preparation of safe foods with prolonged shelf life. Besides this, it is necessary to understand the effect of food constituents on microbial resistance against inactivation agents, to identify critical dose requirement. This profound knowledge would also help to understand kinetics of microbial inactivation and to develop mathematical models suitable for a realistic design of process parameters. For better appreciation of the following sections, readers are encouraged to have fundamental knowledge in microbiology and food processing. The sections in this chapter cover advanced microbiological knowledge pertaining to the preservation aspects of food.

Introduction

Therapeutic foods are products, which are multiutility food products that may be used as nutrition as well as medicine. A nutraceutical may be defined as a substance, which has physiological benefit or provides protection against chronic disease. Nutraceuticals are used to improve health, delay the aging process, prevent chronic diseases, increase life expectancy, or support the structure and/or function of the body. Oflate nutraceuticals are receiving considerable interest due to potential nutritional, safety and therapeutic effects. The examples of therapeutic foods are the foods used for feeding of malnourished children on an emergency basis or to supplement the diets of persons with special nutrition requirements, such as the elderly. Therapeutic foods can also form a part of treatment/prevention/reduction of other health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, anaemia and any other lifestyle disorders.

The incidences of diet-related diseases are progressively increasing due to greater availability of calorie-rich foods and a sedentary lifestyle. Obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and neurodegeneration are major diet-related diseases. Nutraceuticals and functional foods represent a novel therapeutic approach to prevent or attenuate diet-related diseases.

There is always a requirement for cheaper formulations using locally available ingredients that are processed in a safe, reliable, and financially sustainable methods. Some of the literature available on health foods for various diseases is summarized below. However, since the burden of diabetes in India is staggering. In 2017, 72 million cases of people suffering from diabetes were reported and the figures are expected to reach 134 million by 2025, this chapter more emphasis is given on the safe, natural treatment/reduction of diabetes by herbal means.

Introduction

Quality is the ultimate criterion of the desirability of any food product to the consumer. Overall quality depends on quantity, nutritional and other hidden attributes along with sensory quality. Sensory quality is of great importance to both processors and consumers, since it attracts consumers; it satisfies consumers’ aesthetics and gustatory sense. Sensory quality is the combination of sensory senses of perception responsible for choosing and eating a food.

According to Institute of Food Technologists and the American Society for Testing and Materials, sensory evaluation is a scientific method used to evoke measure, analyze, and explain those responses to products as perceived through different senses like sense of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing (Stone and Sidel, 2004). Sensory evaluation gives a general rule for the preparation and serving of samples under controlled conditions so that unfair decisions are minimized. People for sensory evaluation are often placed in individual test booths so that the judgments they give are true and do not reflect the opinions of those around them.

Samples with random numbers are given to the evaluators so that they do not form judgments based upon labels, but rather on their sensory experiences. Products may be given in different orders to each evaluator to help measure and to ensure internal validity by controlling the potential confounds created by sequence and order effects. To control unwanted variation and to improve test precision, standard procedures may be established for sample temperature, volume, and spacing in time, as needed.

Sensory evaluation or testing is a quantitative science in which numerical data are collected to establish lawful and specific relationships between product characteristics and human perception. Sensory methods draw heavily from the techniques of behavioural research in observing and quantifying human responses. For example, we can assess the proportion of times people are able to discriminate small product changes or the proportion of a group that expresses liking for one product over another. Another example is having people generate numerical responses reflecting their perception of products taste and smell.

Introduction

Lipids are among the major components of food of plant and animal origin (food lipid). There is no precise definition available for the term lipid; however, it always includes a broad category of compounds that have some common properties and compositional similarities. Lipids are materials that are sparingly soluble or insoluble in water, but soluble in selected organic solvents like benzene, chloroform, ether, hexane, and methanol. Together with carbohydrates and proteins, lipids constitute the principal structural components of tissues (Erwin Wsowicz et al., 2004). Lipid oxidation is one of the major reasons that foods deteriorate and is caused by the reaction of fats and oils with molecular oxygen resulting in off-flavours that are generally called rancidity. Exposure to light, pro-oxidants and elevated temperature will accelerate the reaction (Velasco, J et al., 2010). Rancidity is related to characteristic off-flavour and odour of the oil. There are two major causes of rancidity. One occurs when oil reacts with oxygen and is called oxidative rancidity (Ribeiro et. al., 1993). The other cause of rancidity is by a combination of enzymes and moisture. Enzymes like lipases liberate fatty acids from the triglyceride to make di and monoglycerides and free fatty acids and such liberation of free fatty acids is named hydrolysis. Hydrolysis is additionally caused by chemical process that’s prompted by factors like heat or presence of water. Rancidity caused by hydrolysis is called hydrolytic rancidity. Oxidation cares mainly with the unsaturated fatty acids. Oxidative rancidity is off interest because it results in the event of unfavourable off-flavours which will be detected early within the development of rancidity, more so than in the case of hydrolytic rancidity. Oxidation can alter the flavour and nutritional quality of foods and produce toxic compounds, all of which may make the foods less acceptable or unacceptable to consumers. Oxidation products typically include low relative molecular mass compounds that are volatile also as undesirable off-flavour compounds (Food lipids).

Introduction

Fermentation is an alluring procedure of biochemical adjustment of essential nourishment microorganisms and their enzymes accomplish by lattice. Fermentation is a utilized to upgrade bio-accessibility and bioavailability of supplements from various crops and improves organoleptic properties (e.g., appearance, generation of sour taste and new aroma compounds, and textural changes such as consistency or viscosity) just as increase the shelf life of realistic usability. It makes foodstuff safe not just hindering the growth of pathogenic microorganisms because of antimicrobial growth of lactic acid and it also detoxifies aflatoxin. With these advantages, fermentation is a successful method to reduce the risk of mineral deficiency among population, particularly in developing nations where unrefined cereal or pulses are profoundly consumed. Tragically, it is additionally connected with multiplication of microorganisms, for ex., yeast and molds caused food safety concerns, (Omemu et al; 2011), decrease in provitamin A and antioxidant (Ortiz et al; 2017), carotenoids, just as loss of nutrients and minerals (Hotz & Gibson, 2007).

Fermentation is a minimum cost-efficient procedure for production and preservation of nutrient, therefore fermented food is an important piece of the eating regimen in numerous of the world. In the nineteenth century the scientific study of microbiology began, and just because, the scientific procedure of fermentation was comprehended. several classifications have been utilized to sort the assorted exhibit of the fermented nourishment produced dependent on various microorganisms, and food types, and kinds of fermentation included.

The microorganisms associated with fermentation process fall into three classes: bacteria, yeast, and molds. Yeasts are the principal microorganisms for the fermentation of breads, whereas molds is mainly used in processing of cheese and legumes. Bacteria is included only of the fermentation of cereal product. cereal and tuber fermentation are a lactic and acetic acid producing bacteria. yeast is a piece of mix microbial fermentation by bacteria in weaning food; all the more frequently, be that as it may, alcoholic fermentation of yeast may not totally alluring. Four genera of lactic acid producing bacteria are recognized as overwhelming cereal fermentation to be specific, Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Pediococcus, and Lactococcus spp. all of which require carbohydrate for the energy. Lactic acid and other natural acids produced from hexoses bring down the pH from about 6.5 to about 3.6. In the event that the pH is beneath 4.0, fermented product retard the growth of pathogens and along these lines ensure fermented items.

Introduction

The farm to fork approach utilizes agricultural products as raw material for processing by industries to obtained value-added products (Mijinyawa et al., 2007). Processing that transforms animal, vegetable, or marine materials into value-added food products for consumers and forms an integral part of agriculture for storage or size reduction into fine particles. One of the major problems associated with processing is the unavailability of processing facilities including appropriate engineering materials for the transformation of agro-based produce into different forms (Ogwuagwu, 2007). This transformation process mainly includes operations like particle size reduction, milling or comminution, etc. utilizing different size reduction forces without making alterations in chemical properties (Enrique, 2012). This enhances the eating quality or appropriateness of foods for advance processing with a more varied range of available products.

Grains are dried small seeds with adhered or removed husks or outer layers processed for consumption (FAO, 2011). The two major types of commercial grain crops include cereals (such as millet, corn, sorghum, wheat, rye and so on) and legumes (such as beans, groundnuts and soya beans). These grain crops are subjected to a milling operation to break them into smaller pieces or more practically appropriate form. The grinding process involves the application of different mechanical forces to overcome the interior bonding forces bringing change in the state of solid grains to different desirable forms such as flour or meal (Kaul and Egbo, 1985). As a result, the physical state of these grains is modified due to a reduction in size and change of shape (Ryan and Spencer, 2008). Most of the actual milling processing that is used in various industries is based on simple operations. But now various technological progress has been initiated that involves the adoption of computer control for various milling operations to improve efficiency and quality while minimizing labor requirements. Hence, the present text highlights the various technological advancements and evaluation techniques employed in milling operations.

Introduction

Cereals and cereal products comprise a long history of consumption by humans. Cereals are the important source of nutrients and non nutritive health beneficial components and for that reason cereal based food products are consumed as staple food in human diet in developed as well as developing countries. The cereal grains mainly cultivated and consumed as food include rice, maize, wheat, sorghum rye, barley, oats, and millet. Products obtained from cereal grains are flours, grits, semolina, breakfast cereals, extruded product like pasta, puffs and flakes, and bakery products such as bread, biscuits, cakes and tortillas. Moreover, cereals or their components are used as ingredients in the preparation of various food products such as beverages infant foods coatings and processed meats. Initially cereals are consumed as whole or with minimal processing like boiling, grinding and roasting. However, processing like salting, drying, steeping and fermentation of cereals for preparation of cereals based beverages and foods has been practiced since the initiation of cereals consumption as food by human. Increasing consumer awareness and commercialization of cereal products have created interest of food manufacturers in utilization of novel and more efficient technologies with optimized conditions, development of convenient and more health beneficial foods with satisfactory sensory properties and wide variety of foods to ease the choice of consumers. Market full of diverse range of snack foods, breakfast cereals, ready to eat and ready to cook foods, and novel functional foods with variation in appearance, texture and flavor is an indication of evolution of food industry from basic to complicated form focused on efficient and automated operations. In ancient times, fermentation of food was done with the aim of enhancement of shelf life and palatability without clearly knowing the role of microorganisms. Modern fermentation technology uses various operations and specific strains of microorganisms for conversion of bulky and perishable materials into novel foods with more pleasing flavour, enhanced functional properties and extended shelf life. In addition to basic bread, new varieties of bread developed with improved functionality like sourdough bread, gluten free breads and high fibre breads is an example of innovation in cereal fermented foods indicating modification in ingredients, microbial culture and processing technologies as compare to traditional fermentation process. The word “extrudate” is derived from the Latin word “ex” meaning ‘out’ and “trudere” meaning ‘to thrust’. Extrusion technology is turning out to be very popular in food industry due to its versatility, usefulness and cost efficiency. It is well-organized state-of-art technology and plays important role in various food industrial processes such as cooking, mixing, conveying, shearing and shaping of end products. Extrusion cooking is high temperature short time (HTST) with high pressure process, is especially used for preparation of cereal based snacks, fat replacers, breakfast cereals, infant formula, gluten free foods, starch and protein rich cereals food products. A wider range of ready to eat food products with different texture, size and shape is produced by fast and easy extrusion cooking. In epidemiological studies it is stated that whole grain consumption is more health beneficial than refined grains and the reason behind it is that dietary fibre and phytochemicals located in germ and seed coat are generally removed during milling or polishing. Various technologies are developed by food scientists and technologists to preserves the bioactive compounds during processing and or to supplement processed food products with the bioactive compounds during food preparation to maintain the bioactivity and functionality of final products. Utilisation of whole grain flours, composite flours, supplementation of cereal foods with ingredients from fruits, vegetables, plant extracts and legumes, bio-fortification of crops, implementation of genetic engineering to produce crops rich in bioactive compounds are some technologies which are being used in modern food industry to develop value added cereal food products.

India is the largest producer of pulses and contributes around 25% of total global pulse production. In addition, it is also world’s biggest consumer (27% of world consumption) and importer (14%) of pulses in the world. Pulses account for around 20 per cent of the area under food grains and contribute around 7-10 per cent of the total food grains production in India. Though, pulses are grown in both Kharif and Rabi seasons, Rabi pulses contribute more than 60 per cent of the total production. Gram is the most dominant pulse having a share of around 40 per cent in the total production followed by tur/arhar at 15 to 20 per cent and urad and moong at around 8-10 per cent each. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka are the top five pulses producing states in India. Considering the nutritional importance of pulses and its products in Indian diet, the production and availability are not sufficient. Since independence, grain production has grown dramatically but pulses production and its availability have declined. On the other hand, the per capita availability of cereal and millets has increased in spite of a four-fold increase in population. The consumption ratio of cereal-to-pulse has risen from 6:1 to 12:1.

Pulse processing is the major need of developing nations as it is the most acceptable and cheap source of protein and hence can help combating Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM). In addition, the identification and recognition of various newer and improved processing methods can provide the basis for further development of legume processing industry. Traditionally, home cooking is applied for consumption of pulses since ages. Modernization has no doubt created a lot of ease and developed various techniques to make different edible forms of legumes/pulses. Many advancements have been happened in traditional processing methods (milling, fermentation, roasting, boiling, steaming etc). and resulted into new products. Improved techniques for efficient milling of legumes into dhal (dehusked splits) are an important area of investigation. A systematic method that eliminates wastes and losses has great significance in the Indian dietary pattern. New systems for processing legumes come under several main categories, namely, improved decortications and milling techniques; quick-cooking pulses; canned pulses; pulse flakes, expanded snack foods etc. Such new and innovative processing technologies presented in this chapter can be applied and used in developing nations. Present chapter will discuss both traditional and non-traditional means of pulse processing.

Introduction

Food processing comprise of techniques employed to transform raw ingredients into final food product or to preserve the food product. Food processing industry as well as at domestic scale the food processing methods aim at providing processed food products for daily consumption by humans and animals. Food processing aims at increasing the shelf life, preserve, make nutritious or ready to eat foods, and getting the best quality final products. There are various techniques and methods which come under food processing such as drying, dehydration, fermentation, pickling, freezing, mixing, pumping, pasteurization, cooking and homogenization etc.

Rheological properties of foods are greatly influenced by various unit operations and processing methods or conditions such as heating and mechanical treatments. Processing of different food products such as dairy, fruit and vegetable products like jams and purees, chocolates, dough development etc. and basic make up of foods such as fats, proteins and others such as emulsifiers, hydrocolloids etc. affects the rheological properties of food product and which ultimately affects the quality of end product. Apart from processing conditions the compositional variations have a great impact on the textural or rheological properties of foods. The changes in rheological characteristics of a food product reflects the alterations in the molecular structure of the food material, this can aid in revealing the changes in product structure during different processing methods or conditions. In designing of various processes such as cooling, freezing and equipment design information about thermal properties is crucial. Moreover, in order to design storage structures for foods and refrigeration equipment the knowledge of thermal properties is important (Becker et al. 2003).

For rheological measurements various tests and techniques are available, such as steady and dynamic shear measurements. From the steady shear properties flow properties of the sample can be revealed whether the flow is Newtonian or Non Newtonian. In case of dynamic shear rheological properties information on viscoelastic characteristics can be withdrawn in terms of storage and loss modulus and depending on the predominance of each modulus the nature of sample can be predicted i.e. whether viscoelastic solid or viscoelastic fluid (Bhardwaj et al. 2019). Apart from these measurements, other rheological measurements are available for specific food materials, such as farinograph, alveo-consistograph, mixograph etc. are meant for study of rheological properties of dough. So, accordingly, depending upon the food material choice of rheological measurement can be made. To study the thermal transitions DSC (Differential scanning calorimeter) and DTA (Differential thermal analysis) are commonly employed. Dynamic measurements as a function of temperature or time are made in these techniques to detect the endothermal and exothermal changes. These techniques can be used to determine the phase transitions in various foods, for instance, crystallization and melting of water, lipids and other food components; denaturation of protein; gelatinization of starch and others (Roos 2015).

Advancements on sugar processing

India has popped out as one of the largest sugar processing country throughout the world. Through the collaboration of research and development carried out in the field of sugar processing, this industry has witnessed the vast changes in term of technology. Important considerations such as productivity improvement and cost reduction were the main objectives in the field of sugar processing. Sulphur dioxide was earlier used but afterwards lime treatment in clarified juice helped in the processing of white sugar from sugar cane. Since then the continuous progress and improvement has been made and advanced techniques are introduced for manufacturing of sugar with modern tools.

Ramjeawon (2004) reported that farmers and agriculture workers grow sugar cane and beet root for sugar production,providing about 20 kg per capita and that is equivalent to almost 13 percent energy requirement. Fechter et al. (2001) reported that production of the white sugar was focused more on juices rather than molasses which were taken as the raw material. Various processes such as ultra-filtration, de-mineralization and de-colorization were used for the production of white sugar. The traditional refining process wascheaper, and effective in terms of purification and juice purification was the method used for the processing of white sugar directly from the sugar cane. Crystallization was one of the process which is used for increasing the recovery of sucrose and it reduces the molasses production. Chromatography was used in the sugar industry for the separation of sucrose. Another method was ion exchange demineralization which was used in the sugar industry for the removal of minerals from the liquid sugar. Later adsorption has been incorporated to be used de-odorization and de-pigmentation. Membrane filtration is latest technique used in the process which was used for maintaining the quality of white sugar by removing unwanted particle from the juice. Velásquez et al.,(2018) reported that thermal processes are also used for the production of sugar from sugar cane. Non centrifugal cane sugar processing is used for this purpose and the product is obtained by evaporating the sugarcane which has the unique flavor and aroma. Later the product is used as the sweetener and has a traditional characteristics flavor and optimum nutrition.

Introduction

Baking is not a new concept to us. Baking process dates thousand years back since the Paleolithic age. During those days, the baking was done by simply grinding the grains, mixed with water and baked on the hot rocks. The bread produced that time was not leavened but flat. Ancient Egyptians have the credit for development of baking between 2600-1200 BC. Roman Empire also had the popularity of the art of baking and bakeries were in existence in Europe too during Middle Age. Baking was considered a highly respected profession under the Roman Empire. The art of baking has travelled a long journey since then. The bakery and confectionary has undergone a gradual evolution with time. Great technical progress stared in the nineteenth century. Development of automatic machines reduced the task of the manual labour and because of this development the bakers could perform many more tasks with the machines. Today’s baking has a dependency on the machines. All the work is performed by the automated machines whereas the bakers only control the machine operations. The baking process has become easier, the efficiency has increased and the quality of the products has improved because of these high-tech machines. The preparation of bakery products using traditional methods has also improved over the time to minimize the energy and time consumption. Today’s consumer is very much concerned about his/her health and look for the healthy options in baked products. The trend has led to various innovative formulations for the baked products so that the health benefits may also be provided not only the calories. This chapter will discuss various advancements and trends in different types of bakery and confectionary products.

Introduction

Food is the basis to sustain a healthy life as evidenced from its consumption through centuries by human. There are plenty of plenty of foodstuffs available these days as part of new product development and flexible global participation of researchers and food technocrats. Their researches brings a lot reforms in traditional recipes through newest technological concepts (functional or nutraceutical) that address much of safety aspect for consumers health and is the prime focused concern for now (Keservani, et al 2014). Even than strict labeling policies is the present hour need to stay fit and fine. Safe and wholesome supply of foods, high pace food demands, increase in processing aspect, minimization of fraudulent practices are the key points that somehow require laws and standards during transportation, storage, marketing and storage.

Nation’s growth resides in their healthy people that contribute flawless to acquire achievements in overall growth of country. So availability of healthy food is must which can only be governed through strict standards and regulatory agency’s regulation. Journey of food from “Production to consumption”, “Farm to fork”, “Unstable to table” and “Boat to throat” are the activities where these agencies abide their regulations by way of laws and standards. Indian market somehow lacking its policy to organize food regulation appropriately hence is segmented in two types of food products viz;

Soil fertility is the resultant of several factors, not the least important of which is the soil itself. Theoretically, the soil only plays the part of a support and could be very easily dispensed with and replaced by sand and even that can be replaced by a wire framework to support the plant mechanically and it will grow quite well if the right amount of nutrient materials have been added to water. ‘Where does the soil come in?” you will ask. The importance of the soil is two-fold: (1) It provides vast reserves of plant food which is slowly made available. (2) It provides limiting factors which restrict plant growth; these limiting factors must be neutralized. We have already discussed these reserve food materials and limiting factors in Chapter II.

It has been shown that if we treat a soil with dilute acid exhaustively we can remove everything from it except the mineral framework. If we try to grow anything in this mineral framework nothing will grow. Yet it is not like sand, for whereas in sand by adding appropriate amounts of nutrient materials in water solution you could grow a crop, nothing will grow if you added the same solution of nutrient materials to the soil. This mineral framework, therefore, is not inert like sand, but it is active and can react with the nutrient salts in such a way that either they are rendered unavailable or something else which is toxic is produced by the interaction between the soil and the nutrient salts. This mineral framework is not acted upon by dilute acids, but it reacts with alkalies in such a way that the alkalies are neutralized. In this respect, therefore, the mineral frame work behaves like an acid. With alkalies it forms salts and different alkalies are required in equivalent amounts for the formation of these salts. Thus we can have salts of a number of bases and if we use sodium hydroxide for neutralizing we shall have sodium soil, similarly we can have a calcium, magnesium or potassium soil. Now in nature, all the various bases principally, calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium, are associated with it in different proportions. The nature and amount of these bases determines the physico-chemical properties of the soil affecting crop yield and leading to soil infertility. We have already indicated the method of bringing the soiil to the normal state when it suffers from any of the defects associated with the soil framework.